Dan Abnett Talks Watchmen Clues in Titans, What He Couldn't Get In, And When Fans Might Get Answers

The writer of DC's Titans says it's only a matter of time -- less than a year, by his reckoning -- before audiences start to get some answers about the teased confrontation between the heroes of the DC Universe and Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan.

When DC Universe: Rebirth #1 came out, the pre-Flashpoint Wally West -- currently appearing in Titans -- narrated the one-shot. Along the way, he revealed that someone or something had "stolen" ten years from DC's heroes. As a result, he said, relationships were altered or forgotten, events never took place, and on and on.

That's been a consistent theme writer Dan Abnett has been exploring in the Wally-centric Titans. The series' first arc revolved largely around former Flash villain Abra Kadabra, who seemed to have some knowledge of the rearranged timeline.

That force, fans can deduce based on the evidence provided in the Rebirth one-shot, is Dr. Manhattan, the powerful superhuman from Watchmen. In case readers had any doubts, there have been several little nods to Watchmen throughout Titans. An earlier observation came from the fact that lettering technique suggested Kadabra was talking about an unseen third party when it would otherwise have been safe to assume he meant one of the Flashes in Titans #2. Titans #5 saw a drop of blood fall onto a watch face held by Kadabra in a very Watchmen-like way. In December's #6, the psychic Omen reaches into Kadabra's mind to find a way to defeat him. Among other things, she learns that his plan is cold and calculated, "like clockwork," likely a nod to the various ways clockwork and clocks played an important role in Watchmen.

More urgently, after he's defeated, Omen says that inside his mind, "I only really got one word: Manhattan."

"It's of course enormous fun but it's also I have to say quite frustrating," Abnett admitted during an interview with ComicBook.com. "It's a shared concept, it's not mine to play with. It's something that Geoff set up and obviously is a major event that's coming this year, I believe, and therefore it's a privilege to be able to write the book and the character, Wally, who is so close to the heart of all that. Also, I have to be very careful. Every possible connection to it, every possible nod in that direction, has to be carefully checked to make sure I'm not going too far or saying too much. I don't want to frustrate readers by going, 'Oh, nobody will ever mention it again,' but at the same time, I don't wan to start doing too much and people go, 'Well, when's this story happening?' It's not my story to tell just now. Titans and Wally are going to be fundamentally bound up in it, but I just want to make sure that the readers are aware that we haven't forgotten it and we weren't just brushing it away. Any little thing like [mentioning "Manhattan" in Titans #6] I could throw in is great. I have to say there were 2 or 3 other thigns that didn't get past the editorial gaze. 'Can I just do that?' 'No, that's too much.' So I was very pleased with the things that we were able to lace in there. If you know Watchmen well, then they're glaringly obvious but from the point of view of people who don't necessarily know it as well and certainly from the point of view of the characters in the story, these things have no significance whatsoever."

...well, maybe not no significance. Maybe the Titans will just think they're talking about the New York borough! Lots of stuff happens there, especially during the occasional Marvel crossover!

Wally's story continues next week, when he meets one of the only other refugees from the pre-Flashpoint DC Universe in the form of Superman in Titans #7. The issue will be available in comic shops on Wednesday, or you can pre-order a digital copy now. You can check out a preview of the issue in the attached image gallery.